Advice on engineering careers
Hi, my younger brother is currently in year 12, he studies a level Maths, Chemistry and Physics and wants to study any form of engineering. However, we are being quite picky on his career because we want an engineering degree at a good russell group uni with a high chance of working after graduation and a high salary, does anyone have any suggestions as to what degree and what uni would be best suited. He’s currently sitting at A*AA
Reply 1
honestly, any kind of MechEng will do, the University Of Manchester ranks as one of the top for employability, and have a very nice new engineering building, one of the best nationally, I've also heard very good things about Birmingham
for employability, Russel Group may not be the best pick, since they're very very research and theory oriented, particularly Oxbridge, (although this has some notable exceptions, see Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool). If you're looking purely at graduate empoloyability, consider polytechnics (Anglia Ruskin, Manchester Metropolitan, etc.)
some unis also offer general engineering (or just 'engineering', Cambridge is a good example), which can be useful if you don't know which discipline you want to study specifically.
In any case, if you're looking for high salaries, it's in engineering consultancy, the very very dull 'talk to people about engineering, sit on your butt all day not really contributing anything useful, and rake in a lot of money*' side of engineering, another good possibility is any kind of green engineering (for instance, Chemical engineering with energy and environment, obviously very chemistry heavy, but may be to his liking, considering he's taken A-level chemistry, plus has less of Organic chem that physics people tend to despise), as green engineering is only becoming more important as time progresses
*this is 'just a biased opinion' and is not supported by the institute of consulting
in any case, I wish him luck with uni applications
Best wishes
for employability, Russel Group may not be the best pick, since they're very very research and theory oriented, particularly Oxbridge, (although this has some notable exceptions, see Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool). If you're looking purely at graduate empoloyability, consider polytechnics (Anglia Ruskin, Manchester Metropolitan, etc.)
some unis also offer general engineering (or just 'engineering', Cambridge is a good example), which can be useful if you don't know which discipline you want to study specifically.
In any case, if you're looking for high salaries, it's in engineering consultancy, the very very dull 'talk to people about engineering, sit on your butt all day not really contributing anything useful, and rake in a lot of money*' side of engineering, another good possibility is any kind of green engineering (for instance, Chemical engineering with energy and environment, obviously very chemistry heavy, but may be to his liking, considering he's taken A-level chemistry, plus has less of Organic chem that physics people tend to despise), as green engineering is only becoming more important as time progresses
*this is 'just a biased opinion' and is not supported by the institute of consulting
in any case, I wish him luck with uni applications
Best wishes
Reply 2
20
RG is a meaningless bit of marketing fluff that does not actually mean anything significant in the real world. 'High salary' is rarely a successful motivation for degree level endeavour. And btw, why are 'we' deciding this?
Useful reading - Engineering and manufacturing | Prospects.ac.uk
Useful reading - Engineering and manufacturing | Prospects.ac.uk
Reply 3
Original post
by Modather0Hi, my younger brother is currently in year 12, he studies a level Maths, Chemistry and Physics and wants to study any form of engineering. However, we are being quite picky on his career because we want an engineering degree at a good russell group uni with a high chance of working after graduation and a high salary, does anyone have any suggestions as to what degree and what uni would be best suited. He’s currently sitting at A*AA
RG is totally irrelevant for Enginering. I'd suggest Bath as their placement year is considered good.
I presume those grades are targets because it's far too early for predictions particularly in Maths when he won't have covered A* topics yet.
Reply 4
Ignore everyone that says “uni doesn’t matter”. Uni and reputation does matter - don’t let him go to a rubbish uni, it WILL affect his future. Russel group isn’t necessary - unis like St Andrews, Loughborough, Bath are very good and often better than most russel group unis
Reply 5
Original post
by Modather0Hi, my younger brother is currently in year 12, he studies a level Maths, Chemistry and Physics and wants to study any form of engineering. However, we are being quite picky on his career because we want an engineering degree at a good russell group uni with a high chance of working after graduation and a high salary, does anyone have any suggestions as to what degree and what uni would be best suited. He’s currently sitting at A*AA
I’d recommend the University of Sheffield, it has great facilities (search the Diamond on YouTube) and also ranks highly on the league tables. I’d also recommend completing a placement year - it helps a lot when looking for graduate jobs and many placements offer return offers. Doing an integrated masters is also a good idea as it helps towards charter-ship later in your career. I personally studied mechanical engineering which I really enjoyed, it keeps choices open as it’s quite broad.
Reply 6
Original post
by sami002Ignore everyone that says “uni doesn’t matter”. Uni and reputation does matter - don’t let him go to a rubbish uni, it WILL affect his future. Russel group isn’t necessary - unis like St Andrews, Loughborough, Bath are very good and often better than most russel group unis
What in your mind are 'rubbish unis' - please list them.
If a course is recognised by an official organisation then it's not rubbish.
Reply 7
Original post
by Modather0Hi, my younger brother is currently in year 12, he studies a level Maths, Chemistry and Physics and wants to study any form of engineering. However, we are being quite picky on his career because we want an engineering degree at a good russell group uni with a high chance of working after graduation and a high salary, does anyone have any suggestions as to what degree and what uni would be best suited. He’s currently sitting at A*AA
If you’re interested in physics and technology engineering is a great option, you broadly speaking have a few options:
•
mechanical (as well as sub-areas: aerospace/aeronautical, automotive/motorsports)
•
Civil
•
Electrical & electronics
•
Chemical
•
Materials science
•
Software & computer science
I always encourage people to think about what they enjoy most about technology and ask yourself what underlying physics are you interested in, that’s probably the best discipline to choose. From a careers perspective i think the mechanical & electrical combined degrees are really great option, additionally electrical & electronic engineering is probably the most “in demand” currently but employment markets shift so I wouldn’t choose it solely on this basis.
Reply 8
Original post
by Muttley79What in your mind are 'rubbish unis' - please list them.
If a course is recognised by an official organisation then it's not rubbish.
If a course is recognised by an official organisation then it's not rubbish.
I’m not going to list them, you know what they are
Reply 9
Original post
by sami002I’m not going to list them, you know what they are
No, I don't - if the courses are recognised by, for example, IMechE then they aren't rubbish.
Reply 10
20
As above, because 'rankings', 'league table' and similar nebulous nonsense are no way to pick a Uni. And despite what you might assume, most employers do not filter job applications by 'which Uni' - they are far more interested in what else you did at Uni other than just study, your relevant work placement or study abroad, and 'interesting person' than your Uni-badge.
Reply 11
Original post
by McGingerAs above, because 'rankings', 'league table' and similar nebulous nonsense are no way to pick a Uni. And despite what you might assume, most employers do not filter job applications by 'which Uni' - they are far more interested in what else you did at Uni other than just study, your relevant work placement or study abroad, and 'interesting person' than your Uni-badge.
Not quite sure I agree. It’s about getting through the initial screening rounds - employers will, naturally, prefer applicants from top schools. And not necessarily Russell group - rg + unis like Oxford Brookes(atleast for the automotive industry) , Bath, Lboro are all very much target schools
Reply 12
20
employers will, naturally, prefer applicants from top schools
We don't have 'schools' here - they are called Universities because this isn't America.
They do not 'naturally' prefer your idea of a top Uni - increasingly employers no longer bother with milkrounds or similar elitist nonsense, and just accept applications. Unis might try and tell you that they are 'preferred' by certain employers - but its mostly now unsubstantiated nonsense.
We don't have 'schools' here - they are called Universities because this isn't America.
They do not 'naturally' prefer your idea of a top Uni - increasingly employers no longer bother with milkrounds or similar elitist nonsense, and just accept applications. Unis might try and tell you that they are 'preferred' by certain employers - but its mostly now unsubstantiated nonsense.
Reply 13
Original post
by McGingeremployers will, naturally, prefer applicants from top schools
We don't have 'schools' here - they are called Universities because this isn't America.
They do not 'naturally' prefer your idea of a top Uni - increasingly employers no longer bother with milkrounds or similar elitist nonsense, and just accept applications. Unis might try and tell you that they are 'preferred' by certain employers - but its mostly now unsubstantiated nonsense.
We don't have 'schools' here - they are called Universities because this isn't America.
They do not 'naturally' prefer your idea of a top Uni - increasingly employers no longer bother with milkrounds or similar elitist nonsense, and just accept applications. Unis might try and tell you that they are 'preferred' by certain employers - but its mostly now unsubstantiated nonsense.
You’re simply completely incorrect if you’re claiming going to a low ranking university is the same as going to a top school (note: school and university used interchangeably here, as the term “target school” is commonly used to describe certain universities for certain industries)
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